May 12, 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Purdue Boilermakers' baseball team outlasted No. 25 Minnesota Golden Gophers 7-6 in 12 innings in game one of a four-game series in front of 932 frozen fans Friday night at Seibert Field in Minneapolis, Minn. With the win, Purdue improves to 32-20 overall, 15-10 in the Big Ten, while the Golden Gophers fall to 35-18, 19-6 in the conference.
"It is always very important to take the first game of a series," Purdue coach Doug Schreiber said. "By doing this, I think it takes some of the pressure off us. We tell our kids to play with the up-most confidence everytime they take to the diamond. Tonight I thought we did that and we were fortunate enough to escape with an extra inning victory."
The Boilermakers used four pitchers in the three hour and 31 minute contest and pounded 11 hits off two Gopher pitchers. Four hitters collected two-plus hits for Purdue, led by Chris Walker with three hits and three runs scored. Sophomore Kris Luce added three hits in four plate appearances and senior Erik Frei contributed with four runs batted in. Freshman Chadd Blasko pitched the final two innings to pick up his fourth win of the year. Junior Ben Quick started for Purdue going 6.33 innings allowing six runs, five earned on five hits. He retired the first nine batters he faced.
In the top of the 12 inning, senior Chris Walker led off with a single. After a stolen base and a wild pitch to be at third with one out, sophomore clean-up hitter Nate Sickler stepped up to the plate. Sickler, who entered the game with a team-leading 40 RBI, was 0-for-5 on the game. He laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to allow Walker to score the game-winning run.
"Nate Sickler laid down a perfect bunt," Schreiber said. "He (Sickler) has always been one of the best bunters on our team and tonight he got the job done."
In the bottom of the inning, the leadoff man reached off Blasko via a walk. After a sacrifice bunt, which advanced the baserunner into scoring position, the Golden Gophers third hitter also walked. Up to the plate stepped first basemen Josh Holthaus. He grounded into a 6-3 game-ending double play to seal the victory.
Walker leadoff off the game with an infield single to third base. He then stole his 12th base of the season to move into scoring position. The Joliet, Ill., native advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a RBI ground out by Frei, his 36th run batted in.
Freshman Daniel Underwood lined a one-out single to center field in the second inning. Luce advanced Underwood to second on a single to right field. With freshman Brad Kriner at the plate, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Kriner then hit a ball sharply to Minnesota second basemen Mark DeVore who booted it allowing Underwood to score and Luce advanced to third on the play. With one out still, junior shortstop Mike Duursma attempted a suicide squeeze with two strikes and was unsuccessful leaving Luce a sitting duck betwwen home and third. He was erased on the play, catcher-third basemen-catcher to close out the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Golden Gophers touched Quick for two runs on two hits. The Hemet, Calif., began the inning with eight pitches that did not find the strike zone. Minnesota got on the board with a sacrifice fly by third basemen Jack Hannahan scoring Rick Brosseau, who advanced to third on a wild pitch. The Gophers scored their second run on a RBI single to designated hitter Luke Appert. In the inning, Quick faced seven batters, as compared to nine in the first three innings.
With a runner on second base in the bottom of the sixth, Appert launched his sixth home run of the season to straight away center field to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Maroon & Gold .
Purdue closed the gap in the top of the seventh, as senior designated hitter Daryl Hallada delivered his fifth home run of the season to draw the deficit to one at 4-3.
In the bottom of the seventh inning with the wind now shifting and blowing out to left field, center fielder and No. 8 hitter Mike Arlt hit his first home run of the season to bring the Purdue deficit back to two at 5-3. No. 9 hitter and catcher Jeremy Negen stepped to the plate and reached on a two-base fielding error by third basemen Kriner. With the top of the order coming to the plate and after Brosseau had an infield single, the day was over for Quick. In came Ben Kaebisch, who surrendered a single to pinch hitter Chris Guetzlaff. Negen would score on the play. That would be all for Kaebisch, as senior Andy Helmer came in and got a double-play ground out to end the inning.
Walker singled to right field with one out in the eighth inning. After a walk to Blomberg, Frei jacked his fifth home run of the season to center field to tie the score at 6-6. Hallada also reached third in the eighth, but was stranded on a strikeout by Minnesota relief pitcher Brandon Kitzerow.
"Our guys really stepped it up tonight," Scheiber said. "I am proud of their performance and the way they fought back from being down by three heading into the eighth inning. A lot of times it is human nature to hang your heads when you fall behind in the late innings, especially when you are away from home. Tonight, though, that was not the case. We fought hard and we were rewarded for that effort with a win"
In the top of the ninth, Purdue had an opportunity to score with runners on second and third with one out, but a fly out by Walker and a line out to the pitcher by Blomberg ended the Boilermakers threat.
Hallada reached first on the pass ball after striking out in the 10 inning. Underwood then lofted a single to right field with Hallada running on the play. Coach Schreiber sent Hallada home, but he was gunned down at the plate by the right fielder.
"Baaseball is such a mental game," Schreiber said. "To me the game has always been more mental than physical. After a game like this tonight, I hope our team is as mentally drained as myself. We want it to be that way. It shows that our team is in every play and every pitch."
Minnesota's magic number to clinch the Big Ten regular-season title remains at two, as Northwestern and Penn State failed to complete their game because of rain Friday in Evanston, Ill. The Gophers still need a combination of two wins and/or Penn State losses to win the championship. Northwestern leads Penn State, 11-6, after 7 ? innings and will complete the game Saturday at noon.
These two teams will play a double-header tomorrow starting at 4:30 p.m.